‘The Bachelorette’s Mike Johnson Has a Strong Reaction to Rumors Clare Crawley Was ‘Forced Out’

Mike Johnson didn’t mince words when it comes to rumors that Bachelorette Clare Crawley was “forced out” as the star of her ongoing season in order for production to bring on Tayshia Adams as the leading lady for the rest of the run. The Bachelorette alum, who first appeared on Hannah Brown’s season last year, spoke out about the season’s dramatic twist on Tuesday’s episode of Maria Menounos’ daytime show Better Together.

“Do I think she was forced out? For one, I look at it from a contestant aspect. That would piss me off as a contestant. I’d be like, ‘I’m not good enough?’” he admitted. “Like, that’s where my ego would come into play. I’m like, ‘No, producers, we’re keeping Clare! I’m gonna show her that I’m the right one,’ if I felt genuine with her.”

On the other hand, from a production standpoint, Johnson was willing to admit there could be other sides to what we know now, which is admittedly not much. “I don’t know, if [producers] did that, if they forced her out, I think there may be things that we don’t know,” he said.

The Bachelor in Paradise alum also weighed in on Crawley’s clear frontrunner, Dale Moss, whom she declared just moments after meeting him felt like could be her “husband.” Asked if he felt the former NFL player was on The Bachelorette for “the right reasons,” Johnson replied, “He would be playing himself if he was trying to play Clare. That would be a very ignorant move. I feel that he’s there for the right reasons because if he’s not it will come out. If he ain’t there for the right reasons, one year, two years down the road, it will be hell to play for him!”

The fan-favorite Bachelor Nation member even got a little cheeky when asked how he would have performed during the strip dodgeball date this season, joking he would have “embarrassed” all his competitors when it was time to undress. Jokes aside, Johnson thought the date showed ABC’s double standard when it comes to The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

“Man, if I was a Bachelor, or, when Matt James is the Bachelor, and he told the girls to strip, I don’t think it would go so well,” he noted. “It’s just like when [Hannah Brown] was on Men Tell All, and she told [Peter Weber’s] parents, ‘Oh, we slept together more than two times. We actually slept together four times.’ I don’t think if I was the Bachelor, or Matt James, or Peter, and they said, ‘Ha, I slept with your daughter four times,’ I don’t think that would play well, right? As a matter of fact, it won’t play well.”